Writing the Whirlwind

Paul Farren talks to Jeffrey Nachmanoff, screenwriter of Roland Emmerich's modern epic The Day After Tomorrow, about the writer's task in contemporary Hollywood.

Paul: So how's the weather over there?

Jeffrey: (laughs) Pretty sunny right now!

Congratulations on The Day After Tomorrow. Could you fill us in on your background and how you got involved with the project?

I have had a pretty exciting couple of years. I went to film school in California and when I came out, like a lot of young people, I couldn't get any work. I ended up starting my career as script editor. I wrote a script that was a sort of neo-noir thriller, and it was read and liked. I ended up writing for several years for different studios, working my way up the ladder, but not getting a film produced until I met Roland. The producer of the film read one of my scripts and recommended me to Roland for The Day After Tomorrow, and I went in and I got the job. So I ended up working through the film and production, writing and helping out to the end, which is really a kind of writers dream.

So even though you hadn't had a script produced you obviously made an impression.

They knew who I was. The fact of the matter is for every one script that gets sold there are a few thousand that get written, and for every one that gets made there are a thousand that get sold, and of course for every one that is a hit there are hundreds of others that get made. Each step along the way – writing a script and getting it made into a huge blockbuster film – is like threading a needle, and the odds are very long. But people are aware of that, and there is a lot of work out there for writers and they're always looking for people to tell stories.

The full article is printed in Film Ireland 101